


Everyday and Always

by doriandorian



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aliens, Angst with a Happy Ending, Aromantic Asexual Pidge | Katie Holt, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Boys Kissing, Everyone Needs A Hug, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Kidnapping, Kissing, Klance centered, Love Confessions, M/M, Oblivious Lance (Voltron), Original Character(s), Pining Keith (Voltron), Reunions, Slow Burn, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:07:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 20,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21541972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doriandorian/pseuds/doriandorian
Summary: After a week back at home with his family, Lance gets a call from Shiro. Keith is missing in space. Knowing that he might be in deadly trouble, Lance takes off to go find him, but in the process discovers a whole new conspiracy to take over the galaxy.
Relationships: Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 67





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a combination of Adashi(Shiro x Adam) and Klance. I think it will head in more of a "klance centered" way, but honestly, who knows. I am the only one editing this, so please tell me if you catch any error. Thanks :)

Shiro was standing at the front window of the black lion, watching the Milky Way Galaxy slowly get closer and closer. An hour ago their destination was just a tiny speck, but now they could see where each of the planets were. He hadn't moved since after Allura had called through the speakers the galaxy was within sight and he had rushed all the way here. 

In the background, Pidge was working on some sort of database organization technique that would change the way the castle stored and processed information. Pidge had been working on it in every spare second they had, because they knew all the paladins would be going back home soon, and they would need it. 

Shiro had tried to convince Pidge it wasn't worth their time, but it hadn't worked. Everyone was restless, and they just handles it by creating extremely complicated data-processing systems.

It was so quiet, Shiro could hear them hitting the screen to reprogram. 

Keith was still in the training room, trying to distract himself. Maybe he was done with his shower by now. Shiro had been with him when Allura had made the announcement .He looked back on their training exercise, thinking about how to improve it for the future.

°~°

They had been working on team sparring against the robots at a decently high difficulty, and were winning. 

Keith was busy taking out two at the same time; he tripped the first, and beheaded the second. Shiro watched him with a sense of fatherly pride.

A short beep cut through the room, and then, “Attention paladins. Your Milky Way Galaxy is going to be visible from the bridge in one dobash. Our estimated time of arrival is still about three vargas away.”

Shiro had been hit with a wave of anxiety about going back to Earth. It had been five years, and all his family would be furious with him. He knew they were alive because Sam had kept in touch after he went back, but still…

What he was most worried about was Adam. They had parted on a low note, and Shiro knew that his fiance(?) would not want to see him. 

He had to, though. Adam had been the love of his life; his entire world. Even if he saw him for a split second glance, everything would have been worth it.

“Watch out!” Keith called. Shiro lurched back as a long toward swiped dangerously close to his chest. He quickly regrouped and swung back, using his own sword. The robot toppled to the ground and stayed there, unmoving. 

He looked around. “That's the last one. We are really improving as a team, Keith. I'm proud of you.”

“Yeah,” Keith grumbled. He was breathing hard, resting his hands on his knees. Shiro thought he might be in danger of passing out from exhaustion.

“Do you mind if I go look? It's been almost eight years since I've seen Earth. I'm a little overdue.”

“No, go ahead. I need to take a shower anyway” he answered bluntly.

Keith walked over to where he had thrown his clean clothes an hour ago. Shiro noticed he had a slight limp, and figured it was from when the bot had whacked him earlier.

Shiro left the training room without saying anything else. Keith was already too far away to hear him, anyway. In the hall he nearly ran into Lance, who was running at full speed toward their rooms. He yelled at him to slow down, but it didn't seem to work. Shiro just shook his head. Lance was going to hurt himself someday, and Shiro really couldn't do anything to prevent it. 

He had made his way to the bridge and the huge glass window in front. In the distance, there was a tiny cluster of dots and some stars. He figured it was the Milky Way. Shiro let out a sigh. After kerberos, Zarkon, and everything else, he was almost home. 

°~°

Lance sprinted around the last corner on the way to his room, and smacked into a wall. The wall fell over, and he promptly fell on top of it. Then the wall groaned and cursed. 

When he opened his eyes, Lance saw that it was, in fact, not on a wall, but a Keith. A very pissed Keith.

Keith was lying flat on his back with one hand resting on his head. His face was all scrunched up. Lance was on his side, his hip resting on the floor in-between Keith's thighs. His forearm was on Keith's chest. 

“What the hell, Lance! Getoffame!” Keith shoved him off with a grunt, and sat up. 

Lance looked at him sheepishly. “Sorry.”

“Why can't you slow down and watch out for other people that might be trying to go somewhere, too,” Keith said, picking himself off the ground and standing up.

Lance was sitting on the floor. “Sorry I wanted to get to my room fast,” he snapped.

Keith rolled his eyes. “Why?”

“Why I wanted to get to my room fast?”

“No, you walnut. Why were you going to your room?”

“That's none of your business,” Lance replied.

“Fine.” Keith shook his head and stepped over Lance's legs in a hurry. “I don't know why I even try,” he mumbled to himself.

Lance showed no sign of hearing Keith's comment. He got up and started walking to his room, brushing off his encounter with Keith completely. Their squabbles happened often enough, and this one wasn't any different. Anyway, he was on a mission.

When he got through his doorway, he silently cursed himself for not cleaning up when Shiro had told all of the paladins to. Of course, when he needed to find his box of trinkets from earth, it was buried under a pile of clothes. 

Clothes were thrown on his bed, and on his floor. A single pair of clean boxers were folded on his small shelf. His box was nowhere to be found. Lance decided he'd better start looking, so he started going through his stuff. He found a week-old bowl of food goo under his bed. His drawers had random souvenirs from plants they had visited stuffed into them until they could hold another single item.

He knew that his box was here somewhere, and it shouldn't have been this hard to find. It was only the size of his fist. Because it was so important to him, he normally kept it hidden under his bed, but the small, wooden crate wasn't there. 

By this point, Lance was freaking out. This box was full of things that reminded him of home, like ticket stubs, coloring from his little siblings, and, most importantly, his abuelita's engagement ring. 

The ring had been given to him that last summer before he'd went to the Garrison and then got swept away with Voltron. He had been the closest to his Abulita out of his siblings, so when she had passed away, they decided he should keep her ring. His Abulita meant the world to him, so her ring did too. If he had lost it he would never forgive himself. 

Where did he put it, where did he put it, “AAARG!” Lance cried out. He hadn't moved anything out of his room other than...

“Oh!”

Lance knew where his box was. When Shiro had told the paladins to clean their rooms, Lance thought that Shiro was going to check his. He had taken everything off his floor, and pushed it into a cabinet in the bathroom. Well, everything that would fit, anyway. He dashed out of his room and down the hall. 

Someone was currently in the bathroom, so he pounded on the door. 

“Buddy, move your but. Lancie's gotta go!”

“I'm going,” Hunk answered from the other side of the door. A moment later he opened the door and stepped out. “Geez.”

Hunk looked confused, but was used to Lance's shenanigans. Lance shoved his way past Hunk and knelt under the sink. He stuck his arm in the cabinet and pulled out an arm full of clothes. He cleaned out the entire compartment and then settled down criss-cross on the tile to go through his mess. 

About thirty seconds into sifting through his shirts, he heard something hard hit the ground. He followed the sound, and, sure enough, it was his box. He opened it to make sure everything was still there. Everything was in its place.

Lance gathered all of his clothes into his arms. Now that his heart rate had slowed down to almost normal, he walked back to his room. It was pointless to fold everything, so he threw all of the clothes had tossed around earlier into the suitcase(?) Coran had given him. Honestly, it was more like a trash sack, but he wasn't complaining.

His box was placed carefully into his jacket pocket. Lance put his suitcase by the door, so he could grab it quick later. They were getting closer to home by the second, and he wanted to go see the galaxy before they got there.

He found Shiro standing at the window, hands at his sides, barely breathing. He looked deep in thought, and it only made sense that he was thinking about earth, and how they would be retiring in a few hours. Lance didn't know much about Shiro's personal life before the Kerberos mission, and he never talked about it. 

Lance could infer, however, that he had left someone important back on earth and was terrified to see her again. Maybe it was a wife or long-term girlfriend. Whoever it was, Shiro wasn't telling anyone or making it easy to guess. Lance figured he'd probably left without saying goodbye.

He walked up to the window to stand next to Shiro. “Hey.”

Shiro snapped out of his daze, blinking to clear his vision. “Hey Lance. Find what you were running around for?”

“Yes, actually,” Lance answered, even though he knew Shiro was poking fun at him. 

They spoke at the same time.

“Oh. Good.”

“Who are you thinking about?”

Shiro raised his eyebrow and said, “How do you know it's a 'who?’” 

“I just do.”

He had older siblings that had had their hearts broken.

“Someone I left on earth and shouldn't have. I should have stayed with them and never let them go. And now...now..I know they will never speak to me again.”

Lance was kind of thrown off. Shiro never opened up to him like this often. “How do you know?”

“Hmm?”

“How do you know they will never talk to you again?”

“Because they told me that if I went, we were over. But I went anyway.”

“I think that if you apologize they will come around. Anyone that would love you it's going to be scared away that easy.”

Shiro chuckled. “Thanks Lance.”

“No, really. I think you should go to them. You can't give up if you love someone. And you do still some them, right?”

“Everyday.”

“Then you have to try. Please? For me?”

Shiro looked at Lance, thinking. Finally, he gave in. “Ok, deal. I'll find them and apologize.”

This was one of the most personal conversations Lance had ever had with shiro. He felt it was getting a little depressing, so he decided to lighten the mood a little.

“When they decide that you are amazing and that they love you again will you introduce me?”

Shiro laughed again. “Of course. But it's a big if, ok?”

“Yeah, I know.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. It's been a while since I watched the show so sorry if some of the details are wrong. Please comment so I can correct them  
> 2\. Yes, I gave them the original lions. Fight. Me.

Of all the terrifying things Shiro had faced during his time as the black paladin and leader of Voltron, returning to Earth was the scariest. The not knowing what was going to happen was slowly killing him. 

Each time he came up with a possible new scenario for what might happen, he wanted to jump out of the castle and never go back. Shiro couldn't think of a single way that everything would be okay between him and Adam. The best he could hope for was for Adam to have moved on, and not hate him. Because there was no way he hadn't moved on, right?

Shiro took a shaky breath. Lance had left to go help Hunk in the kitchen. Hunk making space for all of the ingredients he could find on Earth. 

All of the paladins talked about never coming back onto the castle once they reached Earth, but Hank was the only one that said the honest truth: the universe would always needs its defenders, and it was only a matter of time before they had to return. 

Shiro felt his stomach turn over. They still had a couple minutes before they had to meet up and discuss the specifics of landing on Earth without starting international panic, but he was tired of waiting. He'd waited for long enough to get back, and he was done. He watched the galaxy.

“Shiro, Pidge, we're meeting.” Allura poked her head in the doorway. “In the dining area.”

Shiro nodded so she knew he had heard her. Pidge didn't acknowledge her, but that was normal. It was finally time. 

Shiro walked to the dining area and sat near Allura, who was at the head of the table. The only other person in the room was Coran, but he was trying to, well, Shiro didn't know what he was trying to do. It looked like a weird dance move but with a sword.

Lance and Hunk walked in the room. They sat on the opposite side of the table. Pidge followed them, and they sat in the empty seat between Allura and Hunk. Romelle sat on the edge of the table. Keith came in last, and he sat next to Shiro. Shiro noticed his hair was still damp from his shower. 

“Alright,” Allura said, getting straight to business, “How can we expect Earth to respond.”

“They're going to shoot us out of the sky,” Pidge answered.

The rest of the paladins nodded in agreement. There was a chorus of “yeah’s” and “probably’s.”

Hunk spoke up. “But that's why we sent the messages with Pidge's dad. So they won't blow us up.”

Allura said, “Thank you, Hunk. Anyway, I know Shiro has some thoughts.” She looked at him.

“Uh, yeah. I think we should land the castle where no one will find it. Of course with the cloaking device covering what it can, and then we can fly the lions to the Garrison. If I know the Garrison, and I do, then they won't tell anyone we're coming. It's supposed to be top secret.” 

“Then what?” Lance interrupted.

“We would do what we need to do there. Then split up.”

When he said the words 'split up’ everyone stopped breathing. Pidge was looking at the table, and Lance was chewing on his lip. They all knew it was coming, but it was still crazy to think about.

Allura cut in. “It's not forever. We'll see you guys again.”

“Yeah, of course,” Hunk added. “We can organize reunions.”

“What is the Garrison going to do with us,” Keith asked. 

“Probably ask some questions. Sam was going to make sure that they don't go too crazy. We have been through a lot,” Shiro answered. 

“What if they take our lions?” Keith said.

Lance laughed, but it sounded forced. “They aren't going to take our lions. What are they going to do, hide them?”

Keith stood up and his chair fell back onto the floor. “Don't tell me that you haven't been worrying about that too!”

Shiro put his hand on Keith's back. “It's not worth it Keith. Sit.” 

Keith picked up his chair and sat down, but he was glaring at Lance. 

“They,” Allura said, “will not take the lions. If they did it would be an act of war against the Altean people. Speaking of which… Romelle?”

Romelle adjusted herself so she was facing them. “Under no circumstances will the people of Earth be allowed to know the numbers of the Altean people.”

“What? Why?” Lance asked. 

“Because,” Allura said, “we do not trust them yet. If they knew how small our numbers are, we feel they make take advantage of us and our technology. There will be no debate on this matter.”

Shiro could really see the queen coming through in Allura. She was laying down the law and not allowing anyone to question her, while still being a reasonable leader. And Shiro understand her reasoning. He didn't trust everyone on Earth either. 

Everyone was quiet, thinking about how this would change their plans. Then Pidge asked the question, “Are you going to come to Earth with us?”

“I'm afraid not,” Allura said. “But Coran and Romelle will be able to accompany you for a short while.”

Shiro was taken aback. He'd never considered doing this without Allura. She was their spokesperson, and, quite frankly, he was pretty sure he would screw up without her there.

“But won't you be all by yourself?” Hunk asked.

Allura gave him a kind smile. “I'll have the mice. And it really won't be that long until Coran and Romelle join me.”

They all nodded, and then something across the room beeped. Coran jumped up. 

“It’s time to land the castle!”

All of the paladins raced out of their seats, tripping over each other to get to the window. 

The view of Earth was magnificent. They were above North America, and could see the ocean and the bright cities, even though they weren't in the atmosphere yet. Shiro stopped breathing.

“Pidge!” Allura called, “can you make the cloaking activate?”

Pidge rushed to their control panel and hit a few buttons. 

“It's working. How long will it last?” Allura asked.

“Long enough,” They called back. Pidge walked back the the window. 

Shiro watched as the castle got closer and closer. Then he remembered he needed to tell Coran where to land it. He walked over to where Allura and Coran were standing. 

“The desert. We should land in the desert. Or at least a desert, as long as there is no one around. So head towards Africa.” 

That was a mess, he thought to himself.

Coran nodded and the castle started to pick up speed. They were in the atmosphere now. The paladins were silent as they got closer and closer to the ground. Shiro could feel how nervous everyone was, but at the same time, how long they had waited for this moment. 

The castle settled in a huge cloud of dust, and when the sand cleared, all they could see was more sand. 

Good, Shiro thought. No one to see the castle. 

Lance looked at Shiro. “Can we get the lions?”

“Yeah. Make sure you have everything you need. Hopefully we are going to be here for a very long time.” 

They all scrambled to get their bags, not wanting to waste another second. 

~•~

After Lance talked with Shiro about the person he was scared to see again, he went to find Hunk. 

Hunk was in the first place he'd checked: the large closet that Hunk had been slowly turning into a kitchen. When he asked Hunk what he was doing, he simply replied, “getting ready.”

“Getting ready for what?”

“When we have to come back on the castle and go back into space again to fight the bad guys.”

“Wh-”

“I want to have good food, so I'm making space.” 

And he was. There was now room in the cabinets, and space on the counter. Somehow, Hunk had managed to get a sink and a stove. Lance figured it was probably because of a little help from Pidge. That kid was crazy.

“Ah.” Lance settled on the counter. “Do you really think we'll have to come back?”

Hunk set down his box of tools and looked at him solemnly. “Do you really believe we won't?”

“I don't know. I hope we won't. I hope that all the aliens can live in peace now, with no one trying to enslave them.”

“There's always going to be someone trying to be in charge, Lance. When one bad guy falls, another is there to take his place. Always. We just don't see them yet.”

Lance shook his head. He tried so hard to have hope and believe in people, but the world made it tough sometimes.

Romelle popped up from the doorway. “We're meeting in the dining room guys, come on.”

“Why,” Hunk asked. 

“To talk about what's going to happen when we land.”

“We'll be right there,” Lance told her, and she left. “I really hope your wrong, buddy.”

“Me too, Lance. Me too.”

They walked to the dining room and sat down. Keith came in with wet hair and it looked… different. Lance didn't know if he'd ever seen Keith with damp hair before. 

But he wasn't acting any different. When Keith had asked a stupid question, Lance called him out on it. Then Keith had stood up and practically threatened to gut him. That as normal. 

After their meeting, they ran to the bridge to watch as Earth got closer. Lance could feel that everybody else was on edge, but he wasn't. He knew exactly what was going to happen. 

They would land the castle, take the lions to the Garrison, answer some questions, and then he would get to go home. Lance would show up in the driveway, and everyone would come rushing out of the house to tackle him with hugs. 

His little brother Luis would want to take a ride in Blue and Lance would say no, but later, when no one was watching them, he would take him for a spin. 

Veronica would act mad, but eventually forgive him. 

Marco would be nine by now. The last time he'd seen his younger brother, he could barely talk. 

His mom would whack him because when he went missing he scared her to death, but then hug him anyway. 

And everything would go back to the way it was before. They would be a family. Lance couldn't wait. 

Only when they landed, was Lance shaken out of his thoughts. When Shiro told him they could get their things, it took all of his strength not to sob from joy while he ran to his room.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the kind comments and kudos. They give me the motivation I need to keep at this thing.

When they chose who was going to take Romelle and Coran down to Earth in their lion, Shiro made sure not to volunteer. He needed some time alone. He told himself it was because he needed to think, but in the back of his mind, he knew it wasn't. 

Shiro was sitting in his pilot seat, letting the Black lion fly himself on autopilot. They were about ten minutes from the Garrison. It still blew his mind; how fast the lions could fly.

He was panicking. He just couldn't seem to stop thinking about what could happen and how it could happen and what could go wrong. 

For the first time, Shiro considered what would happen if Adam wasn't there. He'd been through everything else in his mind, but he didn't know what to expect if Adam didn't show up. Maybe he would show up, but not for him. Maybe he'd even forgotten about him. 

No. That was impossible. Adam loved space more than anything, and would have stayed at the Garrison, even after Shiro had gone missing. 

Shiro could picture it now. He would see Adam from across the lot, and they would make eye contact. And there would be nothing. No emotion from Adam at all, and then he would look away and carry on with his life. 

“Nope,” he told himself. “He will remember you.”

Shiro breathed in through his nose, and out through his mouth. Then again. It didn't help. He groaned. 

“I can see it,” Keith said through the speaker. “They can see me. Do I have to wait?”

Shiro forgot for a moment that Keith was asking him. “Yes, wait for us. We land together.”

“Copy that.”

The tall buildings came into view first, and then the lions. He was the last one there, besides Hunk, who was arriving right behind him.

The paladins arranged in formation, like they had done so many times before. It was kind of sweet, like the closing night of a show. One last time they got to make an unforgettable entrance.

Before Shiro could try to remember it, they were on the ground. The lions lowered their heads and opened their mouths as one, as if they knew this was the last time they'd have the chance.

Lance's voice cut through the quiet. “Can we wear the helmets and walk out together? It'll look so badass.”

That made Shiro laugh. “Sure, Lance,” he replied, “Everyone- wear the helmet.”

Slowly, Shiro got up, put on his helmet, and walked to the exit. He couldn't believe this was the last time all of them would “make an entrance” together. Romelle and Coran followed behind Hunk, gathering the most attention.

There was a small crowd of people, some in lab coats, some not. He felt himself searching for Adam. Within a few seconds the other paladins appeared in their lion’s doorways. Ever was staring at them. He gave a nod to his team, and they descended down the ramps. 

The paladins of Voltron stood together facing the small crowd. He nodded again, and they took off their helmets. Slowly, the members of the Garrison started whispers. He knew most of the talk was probably about him. Besides the aliens, respectively.

One man stepped away from the group and started to walk toward them. Shiro recognized him as Commander Iverson. He looked the same, but older.

“Welcome back, Mr. Shirogane. You and your...er...team can come inside and sit down. I'm sure we'll have plenty to discuss.”

“Shiro, please,” Shiro said. Then he motioned for the rest of his team to follow him and Commander Iverson.

All of the other men and women that had been watching them started to trickle back into the building.

The commander led them to a conference room in a hall Shiro didn't recognize. He felt his eyes scan everyone they passed, but couldn't stop himself. Lance put his hand on his arm, trying to comfort him. Shiro smiled in return. He must have noticed how tense Shiro was. Keith probably had too, then. Hell, Keith was probably looking for Adam as well.

They all sat around a circular table. There was clipboard already sitting there waiting for them. Iverson hit a button, and a woman walked in with glasses of water on a tray. She set the tray on the table and then closed the door behind her. 

Iverson reached over to the tray. “Water, anyone?”

Lance said, “Sure, thanks.” He passed him a glass. 

“Well,” Iverson said, “I was never one for small talk, and I know you weren't either, Shiro, so let's get down to business. I have a few questions and then you are free to go.”

“We will answer everything we are able to,” Shiro answered, formally.

“Excellent. Question one: You may have been exposed to bacteria from extraterrestrial life that Earth is unfamiliar with. Are you all willing to do a simple blood scan to make sure you aren't, in any way, contagious?”

Everyone nodded. Iverson wrote something down on his clipboard.

“Question two: Who is Princess Allura? She was mentioned in the information you sent prior with Mr. Holt. You said you were in her castle?”

Shiro answered. “Yes. We were staying with the Princess. She was our leader in the war against Zarcon and Lotar.”

Iverson nodded and marked it down. “And these Zarcon and Lotar. They are not a threat to Earth, correct?” 

Pidge spoke up. “Not anymore.” They smirked.

“I see. How many life forms did you encounter.”

“Too many to keep track of,” Lance said. 

Iverson looked up. “Really?”

“Really,” Coran confirmed.

Iverson shook his head in disbelief. Shiro didn't know if it was because of the response or the Altean that had responded. “Okay. Last question. Are you staying on Earth?”

“We hope so.”

“Thank you, that should be all we need for today. If we need anything more we can reach you through your family, correct?”

They all nodded.

“I trust you remember your way around. Please report to the medical wing for the blood test.”

Iverson stood up, so the rest of the paladins did too. Shiro shook his hand, and they waited until he was out of the room to talk. 

“Why did they want to know all that stuff?” Keith asked. “Didn't Sam already tell them?”

“I don't know. They like to be precise,” Hunk offered.

“That's probably it,” Shiro agreed. 

Keith rolled his eyes. “It's still annoying.”

“Let's go do the blood work so we can go home,” Lance said. 

Pidge looked uncomfortable, but they nodded. “I remember how to get there.”

They all followed Pidge through the entire building and up at least two floors. Shiro had no idea how they remembered what path to take to get there, but he was surprised at Pidge often. 

The doctors must have been expecting them, because they were all set up when they arrived. They walked into the small waiting area which was filled with chairs and couches. It looked different from the last time Shiro was here. The only other person in the room, besides the man at the desk, was a woman in dirty jeans cradling her wrist. Lance cringed.

Before they could sit down, a man poked his head onto the room. “You can all come back now. Together if you want.”

Shiro motioned for Coran and Romelle to stay in the waiting room. That was part of their agreement: no tests unless the Alteans wanted them. The woman with the messed up wrist stared at Coran.

They followed him back into a room that had two chairs and a table. A gray computer sat on the table, facing where the doctor was now sitting. A box rested near the computer, with wires connecting the two objects. 

“Alrighty,” Shiro said, facing his gang. “Who wants to go first?” 

No one stepped forward for a moment, until Pidge spoke up. “Chickens. I'll go. We've all been literally stabbed before, how bad could a poke be?”

They sat down in the chair set their hand on the table. The doctor took it and set it in the box. He was kind of old, but didn't have any gray hair.

A moment later, Pidge exclaimed, “Fuck!”

“Pidge!” Shiro said. “Language!”

The doctor laughed and shook his head. “After all you kids have been through, you can use any type of language you want.”

They all laughed. 

“Ok, who's next?”

“When do we find out if we're diseased?” Pidge asked. 

“A couple days. But I think you're safe as long as you're not frothing at the mouth.”

Everyone chucked again. Shiro figured the doctor was used to distracting patients. He was good at it. He'd almost forgotten about Adam for a moment. 

The rest of the paladins took their turns getting poked. It hurt, but they all agreed it wasn't as bad as getting stabbed. The doctor had looked at Shiro's mechanical arm for a moment, but didn't say anything besides “sweet.” He was glad. Shiro was tired of the attention and staring.

“Imagine if we were diseased,” Lance said. “I mean, the Alteans probably have some sort of bacteria we don't. And even if they didn't, the things we were exposed to...” 

They were leaving the medical office to go back to their lion's. The Garrison would send their results to their families.

“Wouldn't you think the healing pods would have taken care of it, though?” Hunk replied.

“That's true. We should probably ask Allura to be sure,” Romelle said. “I wonder if we picked up anything from you guys.”

“Actually, Alteans have a very strong immune system,” Coran interjected.

Pidge asked, “How strong?”

“That doesn't matter,” Lance said. “What we should worry about is what will happen if we do have strange illnesses.”

Hunk offered, “Quarantine?”

Keith spoke up. “Execution?”

“No,” Shiro interrupted before it could get any more out of hand. “Let's all think…” 

They had turned the corner, and walking away from them, out of a difference conference room, was a tall, tan man that Shiro instantly recognized. He stopped walking. And breathing. Everything stopped registering in his mind. All he could think was it's him, he's here, what do I do? 

“Uh, Shiro?” Lance said.

Shiro barely heard Keith tell the others that they had made a wrong turn. He said something about Shiro using the bathroom and waiting for him by the lions. The paladins turned and went back the other way, grumbling. But all shiro could think was Adam.

He took a shaky step forward, then another. He picked up the pace. Within ten seconds he was almost running down the hallway.

He was only ten feet away, and he was sure the man in front of him was Adam. 

Without thinking, he reached out and grabbed his arm. 

Adam spun around. “Hey! What-”

When Adam recognized him, he froze. Shiro didn't know what to do. His brain still wasn't working properly. Adam was in a gray coat. Still a junior officer. His glasses were gone. He looked incredible.

“Hey,” Shiro said, but he was pretty sure it sounded more like a squeak. His hand was still on Adam's arm, and it never crossed his mind to take it off. 

Adam looked him up and down. His breath caught when he saw realized that his arm was… different.

“You're not dead.”

“I- No?”

“Well, I knew you were coming back, but you're actually here. How are you here?”

“Umm… aliens?”

Adam looked at him. “Your hair’s white.”

“Space wars do do that to a person.”

Adam lowered his eyebrows, more out of concern than anger, and bit his lip. “Don't.”

Shiro recognized the lip bite and that concerned tone. Adam chewed on his nails when he was anxious. And when he was in public, he chewed on his lips. 

“Sorry.”

Adam said, “Do you want to go for a walk?”

He couldn't say no. And he wouldn't ever have said no to Adam. About anything.

Shiro said, “Sure.” He let go of his arm.

He followed behind Adam a step, letting him lead the way to the closest door. 

The walking paths around the Garrison campus had been Shiro's favorite thing about his job, even above the flying. There were trees along them that gave just enough shade to cool him down, but not enough to block the sunlight that he loved. 

He and Adam used to go for walks.

Adam picked the closest trail to the building. It was one of the shorter ones. Shiro didn't know if that was a bad sign. 

They started to walk on the dirt path, side by side. Him on the right, Adam on the left. Close enough to hold hands. It was silent, but it wasn't awkward or uncomfortable. He'd always loved that about Adam. 

“Tell me where you went,” Adam said. “I want to know all of it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course.”

“I don't know where else to start but Kerberos. We got captured by the Galra. The ones lead by Zarcon, at the time.”

“The bad guys?”

“Yeah. They made us fight. That's when I lost my arm and got a new one. I escaped to Earth. I was here for a couple days.”

“When?”

“Right when Keith went missing, was when I left. Then we found the lions.”

“Wait, lions? Like the animal?”

“No, huge, robotic, flying ones.”

Adam laughed, and when he realized Shiro was serious, he shook his head and smiled. “That's crazy.”

“I pilot the black lion. The leader.”

“Of course you do.” 

Adam smiled at him, and Shiro felt his heart lurch. He wanted to kiss Adam. It was almost painful to hold himself back. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed that smile. Or even how much he'd missed Adam.

“Anyway, we fought some bad aliens, met some nice aliens, and saved the world, yadda, yadda.” Shiro figured it was for the best if he didn't tell him about the clones and dying just yet.

“The nice ones are the Alteans?”

“So you do know something!”

“Yeah. I just wanted to hear you tell it.” Adam smiled again, and Shiro gave up holding himself back. They'd been in love once. Adam knew what that smile did to his heart, and Shiro couldn't be held responsible for what happened next. 

He turned to Adam quickly, put his hands on his shoulders, and pressed Adam's back against the large oak tree they used to have picnics under. He put his right leg again Adam's left, and leaned into the tree.

Shiro let go of his shoulders and threaded his fingers through Adam's hair. It was longer now. Long enough to grab. 

He pressed their foreheads together and looked in Adam's eyes. 

Shiro's heart was going to pound out of his chest and into Adam's, finally connecting them after all this time.

“Tell me you want this,” Shiro whispered. 

Adam held his gaze. “I never moved on,” he murmured back.

That was all Shiro needed to smash their lips together. 

It was as if he'd never left. Instantly he remembered all of the things they used to share. How in love their were.

They were kissing, sitting at the kitchen table after breakfast.

They were hiding in a broom closet, having snuck out of training. 

Shiro had come home from work to find Adam had made dinner, even if it was a little burned. 

They were in bed, tired, but not too.

They were kids again. There was no war or aliens or history keeping them apart.

Adam framed Shiro's face with his hands and pushed back against him with a groan. Shiro licked his bottom lip and waited to see what Adam would do. If this was going to be that last time he got to kiss the love of his life, he was going to make it count. In a moment, both of their tongues were twirling together.

Shiro tried to push Adam so he could press Adam's whole body to the tree with his, but Adam pulled his head away and stepped to the side. He was breathing hard. It was over too quickly.

“Wait, what does this mean?" Adam asked.

"That I missed you every second I was up there. That I hoped and prayed to any god that might have been listening that you would be here when I got back."

"I am."

Shiro kissed his cheek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want reach me: tohappinessfreedomandlife@gmail


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment or email me.   
> Tohappinessfreedomandlife@gmail.com
> 
> Yeah, it's a The Great Comet reference

Lance went through his checklist in his head. He had all his clothes from the castle. He had his small wooden box. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was forgetting something.

He was in the blue lion, flying to his family's house. His house. He wasn't sure if he could still call it his house, because he hadn't lived there is so long. It was still home, though.

The paladins had split up. They all exchanged numbers and family addresses, just in case they needed to be reached. Keith just said he'd be with Shiro. 

Saying bye to Hunk had been the hardest, even though Lance knew they would be calling each other in a day. Pidge had just hugged them all with and left to find her dad in the building next door. 

Lance had waved at Keith, and Keith had smiled back. It was probably the nicest exchange they had ever had. 

Lance still didn't know where Shiro had gone off to. They had been walking out if the medical wing and had taken a wrong turn, and somehow they had lost Shiro. Keith had insisted that he was ok, but Lance wasn't sure. 

Besides, Keith was acting weird. He hadn't tried to pick any fights since their meeting, and it had been almost three vargas. Oops- hours.

Anyway, it didn't matter now. Lance was on his way home. He'd never have to live with Keith again. 

Lance recognized the area of Cuba he was above. From his lion he could see the beach that he used to make his sister drive him too on the weekends. His stomach churned with excitement or nervousness. He couldn't tell the difference anymore.

When he saw his house, Lance didn't notice the tear slipping down his cheek. He was to busy checking the backyard for his siblings. They weren't there. It made sense. It was unnaturally cold outside, for Cuba, Anyway.

Lance brought down his lion behind the house. The cloaking on Blue was not very good, and was hard on her to keep up all the time.

Before he got out, he told her to keep hidden. She huffed inside his head, like she already knew to do that.

Lance walked around to the side door that lead to the garage, but it was locked. He didn't have a key for that door, so he strolled around to the front. He climbed the tall stairs that lead to the wooden porch. 

The front door was locked too, so he felt around in the bushes until he found a plastic bag with the key in it. He unlocked the door and stepped inside.

It was quiet. For a moment he thought that everyone might be upstairs, but even then, there were too many people to be silent. He threw his bags at the bottom of the staircase.

Lance realized that he had been so focused on getting inside the house, that he forgot to look outside. He peered out the window and the driveway. The only car setting there was a fairly new, royal blue Jeep. He didn't recognize it.

Everybody was gone. He wondered where they were. Maybe a doctor's appointment? But that wouldn't require everyone. Maybe they went out to lunch. Yeah, that was probably it. And they'd be back any minute.

Lance took the time alone to look around the house. The living room, where he was now, was rearranged with the TV against the wall. His mom's favorite chair was still in the corner. 

The kitchen looked the same, and so did the dining room. The bathrooms hadn't changed.

He walked up the stairs to his room, and when he opened the door, Lance breathed out a sigh of relief. It looked the same. They hadn't touched anything. His NASA posters were still hung up, and, after a moment, Lance remembered to check the ceiling. His glow-in-the-dark stars were still there. A little faded, but still. 

He could still see the ocean from his window.

There were some new kid toys on the landing outside his bedroom. Some fairy wings were hung over a chair, and there was a tea set on the floor.

He went downstairs to get his bags and lugged them back up the stairs. He didn't bother to unpack them. He'd get to it eventually. He took his box out of his pocket and set it on his desk. 

From outside he heard the crunch of car tires on gravel. Lance rushed to his window and pulled up the blinds. His Mom's rusty, red minivan was pulling into the driveway. The sun was reflecting off of the windshield so he couldn't see who was inside, but it didn't matter. If they were allowed to drive his mom's minivan, they were family.

He ran back down the stairs and to the living room. Just as he was about to throw open the door, someone opened it from the other side. 

A man, about five years older than Lance, was standing on the opposite side of the door. He froze, and then yelled, "Veronica! Do you know this kid?"

Lance panicked. "I'm her brother!" He said, before shoving past the man and running outside. 

Veronica was leaning inside the backseat of the car, unbuckling a toddler. 

He exclaimed, "Veronica!"

She had already been turning around, but now she twisted her body so fast Lance was scared she might get whiplash. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

"Lance!"

She left the toddler in the car and scooped Lance up in her arms. She smelled the same; like apples and cedar and their house. 

"Oh my God! We thought you were dead! And then we got your video and didn't know if you were ever coming back and-"

She was squeezing his so tight he couldn't breathe. "You're killing me," Lance complained. 

"Oops. Sorry." Veronica let go of him, and Lance settled back into the ground. "Holy cow, Lance. Mom is pissed."

He laughed. 

"No, really. She might actually kill you."

"Where is she? Where is everyone?"

"Town. It's shopping day, but we got back first. They had to stop at the pharmacy."

"They? Does she have-"

"Marco, Luis, and Lilly," Veronica interrupted. "You must be dying to see them."

"Yeah," Lance admitted. Then he remembered the man that opened the door, and the kid in the car. "Who are-"

"That's Matt," she said pointing to the man who was still watching them from the porch. But now he was smiling. "And this," she said, "Is Rosie. Your niece."

He waved at Matt, who was noticeably less confused. He had dark brown hair and dark eyes. Matt waved back. Wait...niece?

Lance had an epic brain fart. When he'd left the Garrison, Veronica was nineteen. "Is she yours?" 

"Yeah," Veronica laughed. "I found out I was pregnant a year after you left. Mom was kind of mad, but it was worth it."

She unbuckled Rosie from the car and hoisted her onto her hip. Rosie smiled at Lance. They had the same hair color. 

"I guess I missed a lot, then. And Congrats. Hey Rosie!" Lance said to his niece.

Rosie gave him a wide smile. She had a mouth full of tiny teeth. 

"Yeah, a lot's changed. Wanna talk inside?"

Lance figured that was a good idea, especially because it was chilly outside and he didn't want Rosie to get a cold. 

"Yeah, ok." He followed them up to the house.

Matt held open the door and closed it quickly behind them so the warm air couldn't escape the house. Veronica set Rosie on the carpet and then put her purse on the kitchen table. Matt took off his coat and hung it in the closet. 

"Do you guys all live here?" Lance asked. He sat down next to Matt on the couch.

"Until we can find a place, but it's hard. We don't make enough money between the two of us to get a nice house."

"That sucks."

"Yeah. Rosie has to share a room with Lilly."

Lance was confused. "My room was empty? Why didn't you guys take it?"

Rosie was trotting around on the floor inbetween the living room and the doorway to the kitchen. She had a stuffed giraffe in her hand, and Lance didn't know where she had gotten it from. 

"Your mom wouldn't let us touch it after you went missing. She was so sure you'd come back, and wanted you to still have your room."

"Oh." Lance bit his lip. 

Rosie walked up to him and tried to hand her giraffe to him. Lance reached out and took it. 

"Thank you, Rosie."

Rosie smiled at him. She turned around and ran to the kitchen, coming back with another toy. This one was a stuffed elephant. She gave it to him.

"Thanks. How many of these do you have?"

"A million."

Lance laughed. "A million, huh? That's a lot. Can I see?" 

Rosie nodded and grabbed his hand, trying to pull him off the couch. 

"Ok, ok," Lance laughed. He got up to follow his niece into the other room.

She didn't let go of his hand until they got to a box that was right inside the kitchen. She reached in, and started pulling out toys. She handed him a stuffed dog, a stuffed hippo Webkinz, and another dog. 

"Wow, that's a lot of toys. Which ones your favorite?"

"Mr. Hippo."

"Yeah? That's my favorite too!" 

Lance lifted Rosie up and spun her around. When he realized how easy it was to pick her up, he remembered how much muscle he'd gained. Rosie shrieked in delight. Matt laughed from across the room. Lace set her back down on the ground.

"Again!"

"Again? I don't know if I can lift you up again, you're... too… heavy." Lance exaggerated breathing hard, and put his hand on his knees.

"No I'm not!"

"Well…" Lance launched forward and scooped Rosie up, holding her horizontal in his arms. She giggled, trying to squirm out of his grip. 

"Hmm, what should I do with you? I could… " Lance walked over to his mom's chair. "Throw you!" 

When he said 'throw you,' Lance leaned back and then lurched forward, but caught Rosie just before she flew into the chair. Lance grinned when he realized how hard she was laughing. 

He heard Veronica laughing from behind him. He turned around and saw she was sitting at the kitchen table with a box of crackers. 

"You're still good with kids," she said. 

"Well, we had a lot of practice." Lance set Rosie on the ground. She pouted for a moment and then ran towards her dad. Right when she climbed on Matt's lap, the garage door swung open. 

Lance turned around and saw a kid, about twelve, come into the house carrying a bag of groceries. It must have been Luis, his oldest younger brother.

Lance stood quietly while Luis set the paper bag on the kitchen table, next to Veronica's purse. 

"Oh my gosh, Ver. The pharmacy took forever. Mom found someone that she knew in the toothbrush aisle, and they talked for twenty minutes!"

Lance remembered when his mom used to do that when they went shopping together. Luis wasn't even exaggerating.

Veronica just laughed and listened to his story. When he was finished, she said, "Luis. Look," and nodded in Lance's direction.

He turned around and froze when he saw Lance. His mouth dropped open. Luis still looked the same, but a little older.

"Holy crap, we thought you were dead!" Luis ran over to Lance and threw his arms around Lance's waist. "Where did you go? Mom wouldn't tell me anything."

And he seemed to have hit puberty, because his voice was deeper.

"I was in space, bud. Didn't you watch the news? And I missed you too."

Luis pulled away and looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. "All they told me, Lilly, and Marco, was that you went missing from the Garrison. And then nothing else."

Lance thought that through for a moment. He'd sent that video months ago, telling his family he was safe and coming back soon. Hadn't his mom gotten it? Veronica knew about it. Why didn't they tell the kids?

Lance wrapped Luis in another hug. "I'm so sorry, Luis. I know I probably scared you."

"I'm so glad you're back. Oh! I have to go get Marco and Lilly. And mom! She's going to freak out!" Luis took off running back to the garage.

A moment later he heard the pounding of feet on the stairs up from the garage. Marco and Lilly burst through the doorway, trying to get ahead of each other. Luis walked up a second later, still grinning.

Marco immediately rushed into Lance's outstretched arms, not saying a thing. Lilly stopped moving as soon as she saw him, and burst out crying. Lance felt a tear fall down his own cheek. 

Through her sobs, Lilly managed to say, "We thought you weren't coming back."

That made Lance cry any harder. "I'm back now, okay?" He replied, pulling her into his arms. 

Marco and Lilly were bigger now that they were nine instead of five. He and the twins had never been as close as him and Luis, but Lance still loved them more than anything.

"Oh, Lance." 

And then suddenly his mom's arms are around all three of them. He didn't even hear her come up the stairs. Then Luis comes over and puts his arms around Marco and Lilly. Veronica joined in last.

In his family's embrace, Lance was finally home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was it too cheesy?


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is rough, but happy holidays.

"Lance, hurry up!" Veronica yelled from the bottom of the stairs. 

"Give me a minute," he called back.

"We're going to be late because of you." 

Lance heard the front door slam, but he didn't care. He didn't have pants on. 

Right when he was in the middle of catching up on something, um, private, Luis had knocked on his door and told him that Lily had a ballet recital in an hour. And that they had to leave five minutes ago. 

Lance had a hand down his shorts when Luis had told him all of this, and now he was behind.

He hadn't known that Lilly had a performance today. He didn't even know she was still in ballet. Lance still didn't feel caught up, even after a few weeks of being back. 

He grabbed yesterday's jeans off the floor and his new green jacket from the closet, putting them on at the same time. He put his phone in his pocket and ran down the stairs to the living room. 

His mom was silent as he toppled into the back seat of her van. She just started the car and backed out of the driveway. Veronica and Matt followed behind them with Rosie in their own small, blue car.

"Sorry," Lance mumbled. 

"'Sorry' won't make Lilly get there on time." It was like he was twelve again. He didn't mind it as much as he used to.

"It's ok, Ms. Hansen wants us there really early, anyway," Lilly said. 

Lance offered her a smile as the minivan roared to life.

They took the familiar route to town, but took a left turn off the main street. It took about ten minutes to get to the large brick building, but it felt longer because of Marco complaining he had to go to the bathroom.

Lilly jumped out of the car and climbed over his lap to get out of the car. She ran inside so she wouldn't be late. Lance followed behind his sister and Matt. His mom ushered the rest of his siblings out of the car. 

Inside, they found a line of empty seats in the front row. But there were only five.

"I can go sit somewhere else," Lance offered before anyone else could.

"No, I'll go see if there is a bigger space in the back," Veronica offered. 

"But then you guys won't be able to see. I can go-"

"Lance-" his mom said, but Lance interrupted.

"I said I can go sit somewhere else. Really. You need to sit close to video it."

Veronica didn't look happy. "I can come sit back there with you."

"No, really. You need to hurry so you don't lose the seats."

Lance turned around and walked off before they could protest any more. They wouldn't miss him. He'd been gone for five years, what was one more night not by his family's side. 

Anyway, his mom did want to record the performance. They needed those seats more than he did, and he could see fine.

But then a huge, bald man sat down in the seat directly in front of him, blocking his view entirely. There were people on both sides of Lance. He decided to, politely ask him to move. 

He stood up and tapped him on the shoulder. "Um, excuse me. Can you… maybe… move down a seat? I can't see my sister."

The man looked back at him with a frown on his face. "I don't think so, kid. I need to see my daughter." 

Lance sat back down, confused. All he did was ask the man to move. Whatever. He could kind of see if he leaned to the right and strained his neck. Yep, there was a sliver of curtain.

Oh well. Whatever. The kids were starting anyway. Lilly was in the first group, because they went oldest to youngest. Next year she'd move up to the next level.

The girls walked onto the in a straight line from both sides of the stade. He spotted Lilly because of her dark hair. She stood out from all the other kids with their beach blonde pigtails and strawberry blonde curls.

The music started. Softly at first, and then the piano took on a joyous melody.

All the girls spun in a circle, in sync with each other. They jumped on their toes in time to the music with their arms out. 

Lance watched as Lilly took a few steps forward to the center of the stage. She fell to the ground gracefully, and then got up to spin on one foot. Behind her, the line of kids twirled. When her solo was done, she gave a curtsy and joined balcony into the line. 

He clapped with the rest of the audience. Lance hadn't heard her talk about having a solo, so he was kind of confused. Maybe she hadn't told anyone and had meant it to be a surprise for the whole family. He made a mental note to ask her later.

The music slowed down and quieted. The line of performers curtsied in unison. 

On the way home, Lilly wouldn't stop talking. From telling them about what drama happened in the dressing room to how nervous she was about her solo, they all listened. 

As it turned out, Lilly had told the rest of the family about her solo, but it was before he got home. He made sure to tell her how surprised he was. 

When he said, "I'm so proud of you, Lilly," she grinned and turned pinks. Lilly mumbled out her thanks, embarrassed.

When they got home, his mom pulled a bouquet of purple flowers out of the closet and gave them to Lilly. She took them and ran to her room to change out of her leotard.  
The rest of the family sat down in the living room, except for Matt, who went to the fridge. He pulled out a cake. 

Lane remembered all of the times his family made a big deal about him. Seeing Lilly notice the big, chocolate cake on the counter made him recall how much he missed them. She was so happy, and Lance wished he had been here all along to see his siblings grow up.

He had missed so much. 

Veronica sat Rosie on the couch with Lance and went to help Lilly cut her cake. She gave her a large knife, and guided her hand through the first slice. Luis tried to tell her how to cut it when she started to make a mess, but Veronica waved him away. 

Right when Marco handed Lance a piece of cake, the phone rang. He took the first bite of his cake and nearly cried. It was exactly like he remembered.

"I'll get it," his mom said before anyone else had the chance. She got up and walked to the kitchen. "It's probably the pharmacy. Hello?"

Lance started ignore all the other conversations in the room as soon as his mom's brow wrinkled. She looked confused.

"Who is it, mom?" Lance asked. 

She ignored him, only saying, "hang on," into the phone receiver. 

His mom looked at him over her shoulder, and nodded her head toward the phone. Lance got up and walked over to her. She mouthed the name, 'Shiro.'

Lance's heard stopped.

He took the phone from her. "Hello?"

"Hey, Lance. I'm sorry to be calling you like this, but it's important."

Lance finally noticed how quiet the house had gotten. He looked around to see that everyone was watching him. Marco looked like he was going to cry any second. Lance smiled at him to let him know that everything was ok.

"Um, it's fine, Shiro. You're scaring me  
What's wrong?"

"I'm just going to say it, ok?" 

"Ok."

"I can't find Keith."

"Huh?"

"He's missing, Lance."

Lance honestly didn't believe it. Keith always disappeared when they lived on the castle. That was just who he was. 

"Did you check that shack in the desert?"

"I looked there first," Shiro answered. 

"Um. Ok. How long has it been?" Lance really didn't care that much. He just wanted to get off the phone and stop scaring his family.

"Ever since we came back. And sorry we didn't get to say goodbye at the Garrison. I was, um, busy."

"Did you find them? The person that you were looking for?"

"Yeah," Shiro answered. "Want to say hi?"

"Um, sure?" Lance answered, not really knowing what was happening.

"Hey Lance," a man's voice said after a moment.

Lance just replied, "Holy shit."

"Lance!" Veronica yelled from the other.side of the room. Lance continued to ignore her. 

"You're a dude?" Lance said into the phone. 

The guy laughed. "Yeah. I'm Adam."

"Wow, I mean. What. Wait. Put Shiro on."

"Lance," Shiro said. 

"You're gay?"

"Um, yes?"

"Oh."

"That doesn't bother you, right?" 

"No," Lance said. "Of course not. I just never guessed you would be. Anyway, congratulations. "

"Thanks Lance. That means a lot coming from you."

"Yeah, of course man. I'm so happy you found him."

"Anyway, I need a favor." 

Lance could tell that Shiro was scared to ask him, because his voice for calmer. 

"What?"

"You have to help me find him, Lance."

"You mean, like, look places? Why would he want me to find him?" Lance asked.

He didn't really want to help find Keith he didn't care what happened to him, as long as the guy wasn't dead.

"Listen, Lance. I had Pidge make a way to track him and the lion yesterday. They should have it done by now. I just need you guys to meet up woth me and take care of this. Please."

"Shiro, I can't."

"Lance-"

"Shiro, I'm with my family," Lance explained. "I can't leave." 

"Lance, please. We need to find him."

"Shiro, I'm sorry. This isn't my problem." 

But when he said it, Lance knew it want true. For better or worse, he would always be a part of Voltron. Keith was also his family, because they were part of the same team. He owed this to Shiro, and to keith, to go find him.

Keith might be just hiding. But he could also be in trouble. He could be dying.

And Lance knew he couldn't leave him to die, no matter how small that chance might be.

"Ok, I'll find him."

"Thanks, Lance. Can you meet us at the Garrison tomorrow?"

"I'll be there," Lance said, knowing what this meant for his family. He hung up the phone. 

Lance looked around the living room. He could tell that no one was truly ignoring him. They were all talking quietly so they could hear him, but not be obviously eavesdropping. 

"So," he said, forcing a smile. "That didn't last long."

Veronica glared at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is Shiro a bottom? I can't decide. Send proof to tohappinessfreedomandlife@gmail.com


	6. 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any typos

Keith took off from the Galaxy Garrison as soon as the very awkward goodbyes were finished, but he didn't know where to go. He didn't really have any family to go home to and have a tear filled reunion with. And Shiro had vanished as soon as he had seen Adam.

He was sure that they were off canoodling somewhere.

Anyway, Red somehow knew where to go even though Keith had turned on the autopilot. Or as close to autopilot as the lions could get. 

It would probably be another half an hour until he got to his house in the desert. He decided that he had enough time to take a short nap, so he leaned back In his chair and closed his eyes. The quiet rumble of Red's engine was familiar and comforting. He drifted off to sleep, trying not to think about how boringly safe the rest of his life would be.

When Red landed and the engines stopped, Keith was nudged awake. He ran a hand through his hair and tried to rub the sleep from his eyes. The one thing he could look forward to was the sleep. If only Lotor had cared about the human sleep cycle. But alas, he had not. It didn't matter anymore.

He went through his ‘after voltron is over and everyone fucks off to their respective families’ plan again in his head. 

Keith figured he would get as much sleep as his young adult mind could handle. And then he would cook ramen noodles and instant oatmeal. He could work on finding Bigfoot, and then once that was over, he could set out in search of the mothman. On his own soon to be made home crafted bike, of course. 

It would be dangerous, like Voltron was, but he could be happy here.

He might even visit Shiro and Adam every now and then. Red could take him anywhere he wanted. 

Keith pulled himself out of the pilot seat. He could see his shack from Red's window. It was in pretty bad shape, but that didn't matter. He could have it fixed up in a month. 

Keith exited Red and waited for her to close her mouth before speaking. 

"Thanks, Red. You've always been good to me. Try to stay out of sight, but you can fly around if you want."

Red sent a pleasant wave of emotions to him. Keith patted her on the leg and turned to go inside. 

His house was a mess. The paladins left in a hurry the last time he was here, and he hadn't been back since. Keith decided that the first thing he should do was to make sure the building wasn't going to collapse. 

He walked once through the entire house to make sure the ceiling wasn't caving in and going to fall on him and kill him in his sleep. Then Keith went to the kitchen to make sure he had food. He found a package of rotten bologna shoved in a drawer and threw it in the trash can, which, also, looked like a science experiment gone wrong. 

There was a can of refried beans that hadn’t yet reached its expiration date, so he threw it in a bowl and heated it in the microwave. It was a miracle the microwave still worked. He ate most of the beans before pulling some dusty blankets out of his closet. 

Keith figured it was safer to sleep on the couch than his bed, because his mattress was damp and his couch wasn’t. He tried to turn on the TV, but it didn’t work. Then he tossed and turned for at least an hour before he finally stopped thinking.

~*~

The crash of his wooden door against the wall awoke Keith in the middle of the night.

At first he didn't understand what had happened. Noises were common on the castle so he usually informed them. Pidge was always crashing things over. But when he realized he was in the middle of the desert all alone, he grew slightly concerned. 

The room was pitch black. Keith reached for his knife but when he didn’t feel the handle at his hip he remembered that it was on the kitchen counter. He jumped to his feet and scanned the room, but there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary there. 

“Hello?” He called out. “Is someone there?”

In response to his question a lamp crashed to the floor. Keith’s heart started to pound. It was probably the wind. Or Pidge trying to scare him. This had nothing to do with anything trying to kill him. Right?

“Siriously, knock it off. I’ll-” He didn’t have a chance to finish before someone, or something, put a bag over his head. That definitely ruled out the wind. “Hey! Let me go!” Keith kicked and hit at anything that he could reach, but all he managed to strike was the couch. 

“What do we do with it,” he heard someone whisper. The voice sounded human, but with a thick accent. Oh god, it was the Russians. They'd finally found him.

The reply was easier to understand. “I don’t know. There wasn't supposed to be anyone here. She said they would be with their families.”

“Let’s take him. He can help with the lion.” Oh. So that’s what this was about. At least they weren't going to kill him. 

“Make him sleep. He’ll just fight us.”

There was a pressure between his ears, and then everything faded away. 

~*~

When Keith faded into consciousness it took him a moment to realize he was awake. The bag was still over his head and all he could see was darkness.

He thought it was a bag, anyway. It was more like a pillowcase.

He could also tell that he was sitting up on some sort of backed chair, because when he leaned back, his spine hit something hard. Keith tried to stand up but restraints pulled against him. His arms were also bound to his sides. 

This whole thing, in general, was a huge fucking mess. He hadn't told anyone where he was going. Shiro would be looking for him soon, but not soon enough. No one else would look for him ever. Keith didn't even know where he was. 

Whelp, he thought. It's finally happening. I save the world just to die at the hands of who knows what. 

It was probably aliens. He didn't know any humans that could force a person to fall asleep by touching them.

The crash of metal on metal broke the silence. Footsteps came closer to him. His heart was going to pound out of his chest. 

The footsteps stopped right next to him, and then something grabbed his arm. Keith was glad that none of the other paladins were around to witness him screaming like a little girl. Lance surely would have teased him for years about the screech that erupted from his mouth.

He was suddenly yanked out of his seat and the floor swayed beneath him. Keith tried to take a step, but his ankles were also fastened together. 

His shoulder nearly popped out of it's socket when his arms were tied behind his back by the alien.

The thing that had lifted him up growled at him.

"What?" Keith asked.

"Walk." The voice sounded male, but it also came from an alien, so that didn't tell him much. 

"I can't." He told himself that this probably wasn't the best time to get sassy, but he was mad and about to die anyway.

He felt the restraints around his ankles fall away. 

"Walk."

Keith groaned and started to walk. The alien led him through what he figured was a long hallway. Every once in a while his shoulder would be given a shove in the way he was supposed to turn, and soon enough he was completely lost. It didn't help that his head was starting to throb.

"Stop."

Keith stopped walking forward. A sudden, slight breeze tugged at his T-shirt. So he was probably going into a large, open room. That was good to know in case he needed to run.

"Walk."

He didn't move. The guard pushed him enough to make him lose his balance. Keith just sighed and took a step forward. 

"Can't you just kill me already?" Keith asked his escort.

There wasn't a reply. 

"Stop here. Wait until we call for you."

"Uh, what?"

Maybe this was some sort of mass execution. Were they going to call their names one by one and then chop of their heads?

Keith didn't know what else to do but follow the directions given to him. It wasn't like he could fight. He didn't even have his hands to use as weapons. Then he heard an aggravated voice coming from the other side of the room.

"But your Majesty, we brought the lion. It's not our fault the human was there."

If Keith had not recognized that voice from his house he would have known from the words. The alien talking was one of the two that abducted him. And then he called someone 'your Majesty.' Maybe this was a trial, or a hearing. Did aliens have a system of checks and balances?

"We need to-"

"Stop your whining," a more feminine voice interrupted. "

"If you could just hear us out, your Majesty. We believe this human could be the key to finding the rest of the lions. He had the red one outside his shack."

That wasn't very nice. Sure, his house has seen better days, but calling it a shack was rude.

And then Keith realized what this was about. 

They didn't want him. They wanted his lion. The aliens had simply taken him because they didn't know what else to do. He really was going to die.

"You believe that he can help us get the other lions?" 

The alien that had taken him answered, "Yes, your Majesty."

The lady must have been their leader. She was probably about the equivalent of a queen, Keith thought. 

"Bring him out. Let me see him." 

Keith sucked in a breath and walked towards the sounds of the aliens. 

Someone grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop. 

"Take off the hood."

The bag was ripped off his head Keith had to slam his eyes shut before the light blinded him. 

"This is the pilot of the red lion?" The Queen snorted. "He's a kid."

Keith cracked his eyes open enough to see what the Queen looked like. 

"He was in the shed," his abductor responded.

"Are you the pilot of the red lion?" 

It took Keith a moment to realize the Queen was addressing him. 

"Umm… yes?" Keith finally opened his eyes all the way. He winced at the bright, unnatural lights.

The Queen was definitely an alien. She was a squid looking creature with a human torso and arms. Forming off of her hips were four, thick tentacles with suction cups on the inside. Keith figured the tentacles functioned as legs, because only the bottom foot or so was touching the floor. 

Her head looked more Altean than anything. Other than the pointy ears and sharp nose, she was completely bald. 

The other creature standing next to him must have been his abductor. He was slightly shorter and had a more stocky build. Keith glared at him.

While he was observing the aliens he also noticed a huge Galra male standing against the wall. That must have been the one who brought him here.

"I know he will be of use, your Majesty. Trust me." 

Was his abductor seriously trying to save his life? Keith's head was spinning. 

"Then lock him up. I'll see what use he will be to us later. And if he isn't…"

She trailed off, leaving his abductor to fill in the rest of the threat. 

"Yes, your Majesty. Thank you." He bowed and then nodded to the Galra. 

Before he knew what was happening, the hood was back over his head and Keith was being led back to his chair. 

They took the long way back. There were more turns, and Keith couldn't tell if they were going to a different place or if the Galra was just trying to screw with his brain. 

Keith was shoved hard to the left. 

"Hey!"

"This is your cell. You get two meals a day. Let's hope we don't forget."

The bag was ripped off his head for the second time that day, and then the door was slammed shut. 

Quickly, Keith took in his surroundings. He was in a cube. Three of the walls were pure stone, the other was constructed of metal bars from top to bottom. When his eyes settled on a rusty colored stain on the cement floor, Keith's stomach flipped. Was that human blood?

He picked up the wooden chair from the ground and sat down. Would they really forget to feed him? Keith really hoped that Shiro knew he was missing. 

Keith stood back up and walked to the corner (the one without the stain) and sunk to the ground, leaning his head against the cold wall. He didn't even know how long he'd been gone. It probably had not even been twenty four hours yet. 

Thinking about the time made him realize how heavy his eyes were. And how much he wanted to fall back onto his couch at home and just sleep for hours and hours. 

Despite the cold, Keith's eyes fluttered closed. 

~*~

When he felt himself being shaken awake barely an hour later, Keith was ready to draw blood. 

Instinctively he tried to hit whatever was shaking him, but his hands were met with nothing but air. 

"Hey. Keith. Stop it," Lance hissed. 

"Goaway."

Wait. Keith jolted awake. Lance?

Sure enough, Lance was kneeling on the ground by his feet, desperately trying to shake him awake. 

"Come on, give me your hands," he urged.

Keith did as he was told, but he still couldn't make sense of what was happening.

"How are you here?" Keith asked as Lance frantically tried to cut the binds on his wrists with a small pocket knife. 

"Long story. Come on, we have to go."

Keith rubbed his raw wrists. "How did you find me, Lance? What's going on? Also, where are we?"

"I followed you to your shack," Lance said as he helped Keith to his feet. "Then I followed those aliens here."

Lance crawled back to the unlocked cell door and nudged it open. He stuck his head out first, and then walked into the hall.

Keith followed after him. "So why did you follow me home?"

"We need to form Voltron again. There's a bad guy threatening a planet near our solar system and they asked for our help."

"Oh."

"Yeah." Lance threw up his hands in a 'stop' motion, and they backed up against the wall. A Galra patrol soldier matched past them. When he was out of sight, they kept running.

"You couldn't just call me?"

"I came in through the air vents. We need to find one," Lance said, ignoring his question.

"Up there," Keith said. The metal plate on the wall above them was making a low, whirring sound. "Can you boost me?"

Lance laced his fingers together. "Hurry. We need to get back to the lions." He waited for Keith to be secure on the wall, and then backed up.

"Do we really need Voltron? Why could just you and me do it?"

"It's a really powerful robot. Hurry, come on." 

"Ok. So when we get back to Earth can you find Hunk? I mean, I'm sure you can, but I don't know where he is. He has Yellow with him."

"Earth. They're all on Earth?"

"Lance, are you feeling alright? I've almost got this last screw out…"

"That won't be necessary," Lance said.

"Huh? Lance, we need to go. Now. Come on, help me lift this off."

Keith struggled to pull the panel off of the wall. It felt like it was jammed so far into the vent it would never come out. He pounded on it with his fist, and groaned when nothing changed. 

"Lance, why aren't you helping me?" Keith asked.

Keith turned around to find out the problem, but Lance was just standing with his arms crossed, watching him. 

Why was he just standing there? Didn't he want out of here too?

"Dude, what's up?"

Lance started laughing.

Keith's heart dropped. 

"Lance-"

"Oh, you poor boy," Lance interrupted. "So gullible. Were you really desperate enough to believe Lance would come for you?"

Shit.

Shitshitshitshitshit .

Keith hopped down from the ledge he was standing on, abandoning any thought of escape.

"Who are you? I know you're not Lance."

"I'd hope so. At least you're not completely stupid."

Lance stood with his head held high, but his eyes didn't have their usual sparkle. Keith didn't know how he didn't realize this wasn't Lance before. He was so stupid.

"I was wondering when you would figure it out. "

"Figure what…"

Lance's face started to change. His eyes started to stretch. His hair disappeared and his ears elongated and thinned. 

The creature that used to look like Lance fell to the floor as its legs shriveled and then transformed into four, long tentacles.

Keith recognized it now. It was the queen.

Somehow he managed to speak without throwing up what little food was still in his stomach. "You're the lady in charge."

"Yes. You can call me your Majesty."

"What the shit is going on?"

The Queen, surprisingly, answered him. "I needed information. You weren't going to tell me anything otherwise. I didn't seem like the type to give in to torture."

Keith was still confused. What did she even need to know? She had the red lion. 

"What did you need to know? How did you even find the red lion?" He took a step forward toward the queen, but she held out a thin hand. 

"So many questions. And you didn't even ask the most important one."

"What's that?"

"Why, of all the people who you wanted to rescue you, did you see the one you call 'Lance?'" 

Keith honestly thought he was going to have an aneurism. Was the Queen telling him that she had just looked like Lance? Not physically changed anything? She had completely changed her body. He had seen her morph back into her own body. 

"Why the hell does that matter? I want to leave."

"Oh, you nieve boy. Of course it matters. I didn't pick whom I changed into. That was completely up to you," the Queen finished, just as the huge Galra soldier rounded the corner behind her. 

How could he get out of this now? I never even had a chance, Keith thought. He told himself to just keep her talking. He could figure it out. He always did. 

"Up to me?"

"I appear to you as whom you would follow to the ends of the universe. Whom you would follow to the end of infinity. For example, you were too distracted to even question how weird I was acting or how weird Lance was acting. And you never stopped talking"

Of course it was Lance. Who else could it have possibly been? If he was being completely honest with himself, Keith had been recognizing the signs for a while. 

"Normally it's romantic. Whomever you see. If it helps you sleep at night, almost no one sees someone that loves them back." She continued, "But I'm not surprised you fell for him. Being the mindless soldiers you are, you will take affection wherever you can get it. Even if it's made up in your head."

When Lance would walk into the room he would lose his ability to concentrate on anything else. 

"In fact, it's also quite normal to see someone of the same gender."

When they fought Keith found himself wishing that Lance would touch him, even if it was to throw him to the ground.

"He will never love you back, Keith."

He just hadn't been able to admit it to himself yet. That he had feelings for Lance. Maybe even liked him. Ok, more than liked him. 

"Shut up," Keith snapped.

But it wasn't like it mattered. Real Lance would never come for him. Real Lance never would have followed him just because he needed Keith's help. 

"It always works."

He was so stupid and trusting. And Keith realized that his blind trust in Fake Lance was the reason he was in this mess. 

"And I can promise you that you will fall for it again and again."

And Keith promised himself he would never trust people without any question again. No matter how much he cared about them. 

"Love blinds people. Makes them forget what is latently in front of them."

"Stop it," Keith told her. 

The Queen laughed. "So you realize it, finally, just like everyone else. What stage of grief are you in? I find that most go through denial first. Then they get angry."

"Do you want to know what I do when I'm angry?" He was going to tear her apart.

"Give me your worst, puppet," the Queen mocked.

"You bitch!" Keith yelled, stewing with anger and charging at her, pulling his knife out of his belt. 

The Queen yelled, "Get him," to her guard, and the guard drew his sword. 

Keith swiped his knife at the Galra's chest, but the guard dodged his attack. He stabbed back and nearly took off Keith's arm, but Keith stumbled back just in time.

Lance ordered, "Don't kill him, he might be useful."

Keith whipped his head around, and while he was distracted the Galra pinned him to the wall with one forearm on his chest. He contemplated trying to cut off his hand because he still held his knife, but the Galra had his sword's tip pricked his stomach.

He was out of shape. A month ago he could have taken out a single Galra guard by himself. But he was hungry and then Lance...

"Let. Me. Go!" Keith snapped.

"Take him back to his cell. Don't let him out again," Lance ordered. 

The Galra snatched his knife out of his hands and threw to the ground. 

"Hey!" Keith protested. 

The Galra sneered at him and turned him around so his chest was smashed against the wall. His hands were gathered behind his back and tied together. His arm ached. 

He was pulled from the wall and shoved back toward the way he and Lance - the Queen - had come from just ten minutes ago. The little hope he had left dwindled to nothing in his chest. 

He wasn't blindfolded this time as he was walked back to his cell by the Galra. He figured that meant that he was never going to be let out again. It wouldn't matter that he could find his way to the throne room and few hallways if he was never leaving his stone prison. 

It was obvious when they got to the prison wing of the building. The walls turned to stone and the temperature of the air dropped. There were more hallways branching off of the one they were walking down, and Keith could tell there were hundreds of cells. Who they held, he didn't know. 

The Galra grabbed his shoulder, stopping him from walking even farther. 

"Here," he spat. 

Keith turned to his left and there was his cell. The door was open but it wouldn't matter soon, anyway. And then he had an idea. 

When he didn't move to walk willingly inside his new home, the Galra gave him a shove on his shoulder. Keith had been waiting for the Galra to touch him. Expecting it. 

He twirled and wrapped his hands around the Galra's huge wrist. He flipped him over his shoulder and into the cell. The Galra flew onto the ground. It had been a while since he had done that particular move, so he was relieved when it worked perfectly.

Before the Galra could get to his feet Keith slammed the door shut and it locked automatically. He dashed away before the Galra could reach between the bars to grab him.

He ran as fast as he could, talking random turns, hoping that somewhere there would be an exit. But everywhere there were just more tumbles and walls and big empty spaces with doors he didn't want to open. 

Keith knew he was never going to escape by just running around randomly, so he decided to take a chance. He cracked open a door in the hallway he was in. It looked like a conference room, but it was empty. He tried another. And another.

Finally he stumbled upon a big, open room filled with what looked like small, one pilot fighter jets. He slammed the huge door behind him and opened the door to one of the planes. They were similar enough to the planes on earth that he figured he could fly one. But he didn't know how he was going to get out of the room. Keith started smashing buttons. 

Apparently he hit the right one, because the roof of the room disappeared, and Keith could see the stars against the swirling colors of the galaxys millions of light years away.

He started the jet and grabbed the thing on the dashboard that looked like a joystick. He pulled a lever, and the jet lurched upward. 

"Ok…" he said. "I can work with this."

After a minute of testing, the controls were pretty basic. Keith navigated out of the roof with ease. 

And then he noticed that the rest of the jets were also taking off and we're coming straight for him. Quickly he hit the 'forward' lever, and the jet zoomed onward. 

He had no idea where he was going. He just knew that he needed to get away from the squid aliens that were now shooting red lasers at him. 

Keith was a good pilot, but this jet was unfamiliar. Escaping experienced fighter pilots was not going to be easy. 

He urged the jet to go faster. It didn't look like there was a navigation system on the dashboard, so Keith would have to stop at a friendly planet soon. And maybe get some food. He was starving. 

The trail of a laser flew past him and Keith cursed. That was close. He needed to stop being distracted, but it was so hard. So many things were happening and he had been given absolutely no time to process anything.

He made a split second decision and decided to throw the aliens off by quickly turning around. In the process of following him two jets hit each other. The explosion was big enough that he could see it for almost a minute, even though he was soaring away incredibly fast. 

Only three more to get rid of. 

Too late, Keith realized that there was something in front of him. He'd been watching the explosion and hadn't thought to watch ahead of him. A giant red planet was getting steadily closer and he knew he didn't have enough time to avoid it. 

With his last seconds until impact Keith secured his seat belt, activated his helmet from his suit, and wished that at least one paladin would find him to take what was left of his body back to Earth. Then he changed his mind. Keith decided he wanted to be cremated and have his ashes scattered in space. 

He was probably about to be cremated now. Keith shut his eyes. 

***

When he opened them again everything was dark and his arm was throbbing. Wait. His arm? He was alive?

How the hell had he survived that crash?

Slowly, Keith felt around with his other arm. For some unknown reason, the plane wasn't crushed to bits. And all of his body parts were intact. He was alive and very well not cremated.

But it wouldn't last, Keith realized. He didn't know how long Galra could go without food or water, but humans couldn't last a week. So a slow and painful death it was. 

He unbuckled his beat belt and turned so he could see the sky. With all the stars and planets and galaxys mixing together in his vision Keith didn't recognize anything. He might even be close to Earth. Wouldn't that be ironic. He'd made it this far just to starve to death a couple galaxies away. 

A red light lit up on the dash with a chime. It was a little picture of a circle with a line through it. In the circle was the word 'air.' He was too tired to wonder why aliens even knew English. Keith sighed. Maybe he would suffocate before he died of dehydration. Maybe he would just kill himself. That's what Shiro would do. 

Keith sighed again because he knew. He would never have the guts to end his own life. He could feel himself nodding off to sleep even then.

God, he hoped Lance would save him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Constructive criticism please?


	7. Seven

Lance pulled his coat tighter around him as the wind picked up. The sun was shining through the clouds, but not enough to heat the air. A cool breeze rustled the trees outside the Galaxy Garrison. A group of scientists walked back to their building, chatting. Lance picked up the pace.

Inside the building, Shiro was waiting for him. He stood leaking against the wall facing another man with sandy brown hair and light brown skin. The man - Lance figured it was Adam - was holding a cell phone with earbuds between them. They each had one.

Before he interrupted, Lance took a moment to appreciate how absolutely adorable Shiro and Adam were together. At first he'd been shocked to learn Shiro was gay, but now he could see it. He couldn't imagine him with a girl after seeing the way he looked at Adam. 

Lance watched as Shiro stared at the unaware Adam. Then he looked up and made eye contact with his fiance. Adam blushed, pulling Shiro face closer by the collar on his hoodie. 

Lance figured that there was a line on what was not creepy to watch and what was. He'd just passed it. 

He cleaned his throat loudly.

Both Shiro and Adam looked over, their faces inches apart. Shiro's cheeks turned slightly pink. 

"Oh, Lance. You made it." He pressed a quick kiss to Adams cheek and turned away with a kind smile growing on his face. Adam looked annoyed at the lack of affection, but then smiled too. 

"Yeah. Hey, you must be Adam. It's good to meet you in person." Lance stuck out his hand. 

Adam shook it with a sturdy grip. His hand was soft, Lance realized. 

"You too," he replied. "Thanks for looking out for this idiot here," Adam said nodding towards Shiro. 

"No problem," Lance lied. 

"Anyway," Shiro interrupted, "why don't I take you to Pidge. They already started, but need to find Keith as soon as possible."

"Yeah, of course. Lead the way."

Shiro took them down a long hallway and through a set of double doors. Shiro explained that Pidge had decided the best course of action would be to track the red lion. If Keith wasn't on Earth, the best possible explanation was that he'd left in Red. Pidge was trying to build a tracker to fund the Red lion, because the one they had was on the Castle of Lions with Allura.

Lance agreed that it was probably faster to have Pidge construct a whole knew tracker than to try to get to the one in the Castle. Coran hadn't checked in in a few days, so who knew how many light years away they were away.

They walked down another long hallway until Shiro finally stopped in front of a giant, gray door. 

"Pidge is in here. Let me know if we can help, ok?"

"Of course," Lance promised. "I'll call you if we need anything."

Adam gave a wave, Shiro nodded, and then they turned around and went back the other direction. Lance didn't blame Shiro for not wanting to stick around, especially when he hadn't seen his fiance in close to 8 years.

Lance stood outside the door for a moment before he decided to push it open. 

Inside the door was a large room that looked a lot like the one Iverson had questioned them in. The only differences were the computers on the huge table in the middle and the coffee machine on a file cabinet next to the door. 

"Pidge?" Lance asked.

"Here," they called back. 

Lance walked over to where their voice came from and found two skinny legs sticking out from under the other side of the table. 

"Um, what are you doing?"

"Building a tracker for the Red lion."

"I know that, I meant what are you working on now?"

"Your mom."

"Pidge! No one speaks about my mom in that manner."

"I'm making the thing that scans for the specific frequency that the Red lion will send out when I finish that other thing." 

"Oh. Can I help?" Lance asked.

"This specific thingamajig is pretty weird. You can work on that other machine over there," they offered.

Lance looked around. There were a bunch of screens and some wires on an electronic board, but nothing really machiney.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"The coffee machine? By the door?"

"You want me to make coffee."

"Yeah. Oh! I almost have it!"

Lance gave in and decided he might as well make some coffee. Pidge was better at all this electronic mumbo jumbo, anyway. He poured in the water from a half full, recycled milk jug and replaced the grounds. A few seconds after he hit the 'strong' button, the coffee machine gurgled to life. 

"How long have you been awake, Pidge?" If the milk jug was half empty, the other half had probably been made into coffee. And if Pidge had drank all that coffee… Man. He was impressed.

"I don't know," they answered. "I got here on Wednesday."

"It's Friday!"

Pidge didn't answer him, but they did. Crawl out from under the table. They walked over to the coffee pot and poured a cup, ignoring him completely.

"How close are you to finding him?" he asked.

Pidge chugged the cup of hot liquid. "Very. Just gotta figure out how to remotely activate the Red lion, make it send out a very specific signal, activate my receptor, and then we'll know where he is."

"Ok. So you are going to take a nap, and then we will do all those things."

"Can't. Just drank two cups of strong, black coffee. That's enough caffeine to keep me going for at least long enough to do all that."

Pidge threw themself into the rolling chair and scooted up to the desk with all the screens. They clicked through a few screens and then typed a few lines of code into the computer. Lance stood behind them and watched. A green light lit up on the screen. 

"Got her. Aaaaaaaaaaannd…"

Lance quirked an eyebrow. Why did Shiro call me all the way here if I'm not going to do anything?" He could have been with his family. He could have been spending time with his sister or even his niece. He already missed her and it had only been a few hours. 

"There it is. Hand me that." Pidge pointed at the control board setting on the desk with all the wires sticking off of it.

Lance handed it to them. "Is this thing safe?"

"For me, it is," Pidge answered, plugging in the wires to the computer processor. "Now we wait."

"For-"

"For the signal the red lion sends to reach us." 

The computer lit up again, and Pidge sprung to life. They hit keys and clicked their mouse and typed meaningless phrases into the computer. After a few moments, they settled back into their chair. 

"Got 'em."

"Where?"

"Theta B - 65. A dwarf planet in an undiscovered galaxy just a couple light-years away. Looks like there is something surrounding Red. The signals bouncing off."

"So you found the red lion and discovered a galaxy?"

"Yeah. Will you be ready to leave in the morning?" Pidge asked. They pulled a flash drive out of their pocket. "I'm putting a map to the coordinates on here. We can plug it into Blue and she'll be able to take us right there."

"Sweet. I have Blue right outside. I'd offer to fly us both there in Blue, but we might need two lions in case we run into trouble."

"Good idea. Iverson is letting us use two of the guest bedrooms they keep open for foreign ambassadors." Pidge tossed him the flash drive. "We can go to sleep now if you want and wake up early to go. I have a feeling he might be in trouble."

"Why can't we go now? You could sleep on the way," Lance asked. 

Pidge grimaced. "I'd rather sleep in an actual bed." They hit the power button on the screen and that whirring of the fans stopped. 

Two minutes later, Pidge led them to their rooms. With all their fluffy pillows and extravagant finishings, Lance still wasn't surprised about how nice the rooms were. The Galaxy Garrison had a reputation for hosting high ranking officials from other countries. 

After taking a hit shower, Lance found some sweatpants in the closet and changed into them. He tried not to think about how many old, crusty men had put them on. Then he threw himself onto the bed, sank into the soft covers. Lance closed his eyes, but he couldn't seem to sleep.

He tossed and turned for what seemed like hours. Pidge's last comment to him wouldn't leave his mind. Maybe Keith really was in some type of trouble. The red lion was on a planet, not just flying around in space. Unless Keith had stopped for a grocery run, that wasn't a good sign. 

"Ugh," he groaned out loud. It didn't help. 

What would he do if Keith was really dead? It wasn't like they were both still part of a 'universe defending' team, but they were still friends. Were they friends? He didn't know. 

And then Lance knew what he had to do. Pidge had given him everything he needed to find the red lion. It was twice as dangerous and Shiro would hate him forever, but Keith could be dying. And it wasn't like he was getting any sleep. He had to leave now. 

Once he had made up his mind, Lance threw back the covers and jumped out of bed. He quickly went through the room and stuffed everything he thought he might need into a backpack he'd found. Two more pairs of sweats. His jeans. His jacket. A toothbrush and toothpaste from the bathroom. 

Lance ran out of the Garrison and to where he had hidden Blue behind the huge garage they used for jets and other equipment. He quickly climbed on board.

When he plugged the flash drive map into the port on Blue's dash the cockpit lit up with the holographic stars. Blue started to rumble loudly to life, but Lance shushed her. 

"Shh, girl. We need to be quiet. "

Blue quickly lowered the volume of her engines. 

"Can you take me to Red? Follow the map. Please?"

Blue rumbled an 'ok.'

"Ok, girl. Let's go," he said, settling into his chair. 

Blue blasted off of the ground a split second and was out of the atmosphere in five. Lance finally fell asleep.

~*~

Lance woke up in time to watch as Theta B - 65 came into view. 

It was a small planet, he could see that now. And the base on said planet was absolutely giant. Pidge was right about the red lion being kept in a facility of sorts. He really hoped Pidge wouldn't hate him forever for leaving them there and the Garrison.

Once they had entered the atmosphere Lance could clearly see the huge buildings. There were smaller buildings and streets around, like a city. There were jets flying around. Something was wrong. Sure Lance had never been to this particular alien society, but there were way too many jets around to just be on patrol. But Pidge's map said that the red lion was inside, and that meant so was Keith. He really, really hoped.

"Can you get us in there without being seen, Blue?"

Blue responded by waiting for the space to clear of jets, and then flying closer to the largest gray building. Lance couldn't see an entrance from where Blue was, but he knew there had to be one somewhere. 

Blue landed on the ground about one hundred yards away from the building. Lance quickly changed into his armor before he told Blue to stay where she was until he came back. He could tell she wasn't happy about it, but Blue didn't move. 

Lance exited his lion, but had to dash behind one of Blue's legs to avoid being spotted by two aliens that had just rounded the corner of the building. 

These were quite possibly the weirdest aliens the paladins had ever encountered.They had bald heads with pointy ears and rather humanoid armored torsos with two arms, but their bottom half was more than strange. They had four tentacle looking limbs protruding from their breastplates. Their top halves were perfectly level when they walked. Slithered. Lance decided he was going to call it walking. 

He didn't have time to think about this now. 

Once they were out of sight, he ran in the direction they had come from. He paused before going around the edge of the building to make sure no more of the creatures were coming. Lance didn't hear anything, so he kept going. 

Then he could see the entrance. It was a huge set of double doors that automatically opened as more of the same species of creature walked out. When the doors opened again he waited for the aliens to leave and then snuck through.

Inside was pretty average for an alien space army base. Or at least that's what it looked like. He quickly ducked into an extruding hallway before the aliens could realize he wasn't supposed to be there. It was made of gray stone and concrete. From the large open corridors through the door, Lance was even further convinced he was in an army base. There were jet garages everywhere. 

Lance had no idea what he was looking for , besides the red lion. And he didn't think the red lion was going to be out in the open, so he kept exploring. 

A couple minutes later the hallway hit a dead end, so Lance had to choose either to go inside a room, or turn around. He decided to go into one of the workshops. Maybe some of the aliens would be talking about where they put the red lion. 

Not likely, he thought, but maybe. 

He chose the last door on the right. It was cracked open and he could heat the chatter of voices inside. Lance pressed his ear to the space between the door and the wall to listen. Unsurprisingly, the language they were talking in wasn't English.

He checked another door, and then another, until he heard a language he recognized. Apparently some of them could speak English. 

"And then it spun around and flipped like crazy and it…"

Lance crept as close as he dared. 

"...smashed into the ground and crouched in on itself. The wings…"

"And then it stole my ship! I'll have to order a new one now."

\-----------  
Wow that's crazy convenient. It's almost like someone couldn't figure out how to deliver information naturally . :)  
\-----------

That must have been Keith. Lance didn't know what other possible explanation would make sense. He was definitely insane enough to steal a ship and then crash into a planet. 

Shit. That meant that Keith was probably crashed on a planet somewhere. If he was even alive. 

Lance had to go now. 

He ran back the way he came, all the way to Blue without any run-in with the aliens. They took off without any hesitation. If Keith was in trouble his life might depend on Lance arriving within minutes. 

"Can you feel Keith, Blue? Can you do that?"

Blue didn't give a response. 

"You need to find him. Go near the planets so I can see. Watch for crashed fighter jets." Lance let Blue take control so he could get closer to the window. 

Everytime they circled a planet Lance would scan the ground for a crushed ship. It didn't help that he had no idea what he was looking for. Lance assumed it was the same model ship that had been flying around the base patrolling, but there was no guarantee.

A ding sounded. Lance looked over and saw that a light had lit up on Blue's dash. Blue was almost out of power. Shit again. He'd forgotten to have Blue charged. This was bad. He needed to find Keith now.

\------------  
You literally all know where this is going   
\------------

"Come on Blue. Next planet."

They rushed from planet to planet until Blue's energy level was too low to keep going. Lance didn't know what to do except hope that Pidge would be able to find him now that they had made the software. 

"Can you land on that planet?" Lance asked. "We need to go into hibernation mode if we want to survive." Lance didn't want to give up on looking for Keith, but he wouldn't be any use to anyone if there were two paladins missing. Pidge would find him anyway. They had the tech to do it now.

Blue followed his advice and entered the atmosphere of the planet Lance had chosen. When they got closer he spotted a smoking pile of debris. 

"That's probably him, Blue. Holy shit! How did we get so lucky? Fly down there," Lance ordered excitedly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter is short and feels really forced so I apologize. I spent a while trying to make it feel more natural, but it wasn't really working. Please don't give up on me, I promise the next one will be better. It's something new too.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this is rushed and not edited. Leave a comment if you want to beta my stuff.

Without checking to make sure the air was breathable, Lance jumped out of Blue as soon as they landed on the ground. Even though opening the door would release valuable oxygen that Blue might not be able to make back, Lance had hit the button without a second thought.

The ground was like sand and he had to keep his feet moving so as not to sink down past his knees. In the distance Lance could see the silhouette of some tall objects. Maybe huge rocks, or some trees. 

They'd landed pretty close to the smoking wreckage. He could tell that it was one of the alien's fighter jets from the back set of wings. The front set were buried into the ground, if they were even still intact. About twenty feet away there was a piece of metal and what looked like a curved sheet of plastic. 

He tried to pull on the back tail of the plane and pry it out of the ground, but nothing budged. If Keith was still in the cockpit Lance didn't know how he was getting air, or whatever he was breathing. 

"Keith!" He called, already feeling his throat start to burn. "Buddy?"

If Keith was alive, he didn't answer. 

Lance kept around the jet, trying to find any sort of working latch or button to make the door open. With every breath he could feel himself growing more and more tired. His eyelids were getting heavy. And the ground looked really, really cozy. 

"No," He told himself out loud. "Come on. Find the latch."

He stuck his arm underneath the crumpled metal and pulled on the ledges until something gave. He heard a 'pop' and the top of the jet released its hold on the wings. 

Lance quickly grabbed a long metal pole to use as a pry bar. The door swung upward after only a few seconds of shoving. 

Keith was in the pilot seat looking very much dead. Lance put his hand on his chest, but he couldn't tell if Keith was breathing. 

"Oh no, oh no, oh no," Lance murmured, "Come on, man." 

He needed to get Keith onto Blue, but it was obvious he wasn't going to be strolling over there. The only solution was to carry him. 

Keith was heavier than thought though he'd be. He hadn't seen him in a few weeks, but he's changed. He had some stubble on his chin and his hair fell all the way to his shoulders. 

With his arms under Keith's knees and hugging his torso close to his body, Lance lugged him back to Blue, grunting all the while. Blue automatically shut the door behind them and Lance could feel that she was mad at him for acting so rashly. 

He threw Keith on the floor, making sure his head didn't smack the ground too hard. A second later Keith lurched up with a gasp which made Lance jumped back onto his butt.

"Shit, are you ok?"

Keith was sitting straight up on the floor with his hands resting on his knees stretched out in front of him, gasping for air. 

"Yeah. I think so."

"Holy crap!" Lance cried, "You're turning purple!"

Keith shook his head, trying to pull air into his lungs. "I was turning purple. Now I'm going back to normal."

"Jesus, man. You scared me. I thought you were dead."

"I think I might have been," he answered. Keith brushed his hair out of his face. "Why are you here?"

Lance looked at him, "Oh, I was just looking for my mom's lasagna recipe.” He rolled his eyes. “Obviously I was here to find you, you idiot. Why else would I be here?"

"I don't know. I didn't think anyone was going to make the trip out here just for me." He looked down at the ground. "Did you guys have a mission out here?"

"What? No. It's just me, and I was tracking Red. It's pure luck that I found you."

"Oh. Do you have any food? I'm starving."

"Only food goo. Canned."

"That's fine." Keith looked disappointed. 

Lance moved so he was sitting cross-legged, facing Keith. He decided that, overall and considering the fact that he almost died, Keith looked almost normal. His hair was longer and he had some stubble on his cheeks and was thinner, but otherwise he looked healthy. 

He allowed himself to relax. Keith wasn’t dead and he wasn’t either. 

“Do you,” he asked tentatively, “want some food?” 

Keith shook his head. “For some reason I’m not hungry.”

A big crash outside of the lion made them both jump. “I better lock up the lion. We’re not going anywhere for a while so we need to save our oxygen.” Lance picked himself up off the floor and offered a hand to Keith. “Want to help me move everything we need into the cockpit?”

“Sure.” He took his hand and let Lance lift him off of the floor. Lance really hoped his hand wasn't sweaty but he knew it was. Whenever he got nervous his hands would get cold and start sweating. 

They took the crates of canned food goo and stacked them against the wall next to Blue’s control panel. There were only a few jugs of water, only enough to last them a week, or two, if they were lucky. Keith found a notebook in one of the storage compartments behind some of the panels and tossed it onto the pile. 

After everything was moved, Lance switched Blue into power saving mode, and sealed the cockpit door with them inside. 

“I found some paper. It looks like a sketch book,” Keith said to break the silence. 

Lance startled and lunged for him. “Hey, give me that!”

“What?” Keith hugged the notebook to his chest and turned his back, protecting it. “No!”

“Keith. That’s mine.”

Keith started to open the sketchbook to flip through it and Lance tackled him. “Stop it! Let me have my notebook!”

Lance wrenched his sketchbook from Keith’s grasp and sat on it before Keith could grab it back from him. “It’s private.”

“Is it a diary?” Keith teased. “Aw, it’s ok sharpshooter. Sometimes we just-”

“It is not.” Lance glared at him. 

Keith put his hands in the air and smirked in mock surrender. “Fine. Whatever.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine, I obviously pushed you. I deserved it.”

“No, you didn't.” 

Keith was quiet. 

After a moment he said, “I never thanked you. For rescuing me. So, yeah. Thanks.” Keith scratched at the back of his neck, even though Lance could tell that there was no itch. 

“Yeah, of course. You’re part of the team and you went missing. It was Shiro who told us you had been missing for a few weeks anyway. “

Keith’s head snapped up. “Wait, what?”

“Yeah, Shiro. You know him. Tall fellow, white hair? Did you hit your head and loose your-”

“No, you said a few weeks. I was gone for at the very most one and a half.”

“Well, obviously you weren’t.”

Keith gave him a look that meant if Lance kept talking he was going to strangle him with his bare hands. Lance stopped talking, if only to preserve their limited oxygen.

“I must have been in some sort of coma. Or hibernation. I don’t know if Galra can do that, but that’s the only way I’m still alive. Or at least without severe brain damage. Don’t respond to that last part.” Lance had opened his mouth but shut it just as fast. He smiled sheepishly. 

Keith scooted back to lean against the wall. “I owe you one.”

‘Yeah, ok.” Keith snickered. 

Lance sighed in response. “What are we going to do?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that we have about a few weeks worth of water, a month’s worth of food, and who knows how long until the Blue runs out of energy to make oxygen. And no one knows where we are.”

Keith looked at him. “What do you mean, no one knows where we are? Oh, no. Please tell me that you didn’t do something stupid.”

“I won't tell you then.”

“Lance.”

“I stole the only copy of the coordinates from Pidge and left in the middle of the night without telling anyone.”

“Shit.”

“Yep.”

“Oh my God. We’re going to die out here. We survived Zarkon and Lotor and everything else that ever wanted to kill us, just to die of dehydration.”

“Possibly suffocation.”

“I’m going to kill you. We’re going to kill each other. How could you think that coming alone could be a good idea?”

Lance shrugged. “We could go explore the planet.”

“I don’t have my armor. And it’s just a huge desert, anyway.”

“I saw mountains. Or trees. Or something. But it could be fresh water. I want to go check it out.”

“Are you crazy?”

“I don’t want to die here with you.”

“Oh, with me? Do you really hate me that much?” Keith sneered. 

“You know what I meant. I can’t die here. I left my family and I want to at least tell them I’m sorry.”

“Sorry, but we’re just proving my point.”

“I’m going over there tomorrow. You can stay here and heal some more.”

“Fine. But if you get killed it’s your own fault.”

“Deal.”

Lance layed down on his side and closed his eyes, trying to ignore the quiet buzzing of the electronics and the brightness of the lights. He hugged his sketchbook to his chest, making sure that if Keith tried to look at his scribbles he’d be woken up. He hadn’t realized how tired he was, but before he could remember he was fast asleep.

~(^-^)~

When he woke up the next morning the lights were off and Keith was still asleep. Lance wasn’t surprised to learn that Keith was a back sleeper, but it still threw him off when he saw how peaceful Keith looked. It was unusual to see him without a glare on his face. For a second Lance panicked that Keith had died during the time he was asleep, but then his eyelids fluttered and Lance’s heart went back to normal. 

He imagined the surprised look on Keith’s face when he walked through the door carrying some sort of animal for them to roast and eat. He’d be so surprised that Lance was able to do something to help them. 

Lance was going to prove that he wasn’t helpless. That he was able to provide for them and keep them alive until help came. He silently slipped out the door with his bayard at his side. How hard would it be to blast something and fry it, really?

*~* 

Keith woke up to a high pitched wail coming from outside the lion. Wind, Maybe? Sometime during the time they were asleep he must have slid down from the wall. Sleeping on his back always made his neck stiff the next morning. 

Was there even a morning on this planet? He hadn’t seen the sun before the crash. 

There was that sound again. 

He got up and looked out the window to see Lance sprinting across the sand, from a few football fields away, toward Blue.

Keith didn’t know what help he would be, but he had to do something. Lance had saved him, after all. He could at least return the favor by not letting him get eaten. He opened the hatch. Damning the consequences. 

When Lance saw him step out onto the ground he started waving his arms and yelling, but Keith couldn’t hear him, and he wasn’t close enough for lip reading yet. He started to run toward Lance. Maybe the team had found them and were on their way. Lance waved his arms faster. 

“Run!” He yelled.

“What?”

“Run!” He shouted louder. 

“Why?”

“We’re gonna die!”

Lance passed him, not bothering to stop. He just grabbed his arm and pulled Keith along with him.

~*~

Lance wasn’t quite sure what was following him. He just knew it was big, invisible, and his bayard didn’t seem to be able to deter it. And it growled. When it had tried to eat him, instead of the other way around, he ran.

It turned out that the blobs in the distance had been trees, but they weren’t like any earth trees. They were ten times as big and harder than rocks. Lance had been trying to climb one and get a better view of the terrain when an invisible force hit him clear into next week. Or about twenty feet out of the air. 

He’d shot at it and tried to hit something. But it hadn’t relented and Lance knew that if he couldn’t fight he should resort to flight. So he ran. 

Then he saw Keith open Blue’s mouth. If this thing was causing this much destruction behind him, they couldn’t let it get onto the lion. Keith didn’t have his armor and this air might have been breathable, but he didn’t know for how long. If they lost Blue they lost any chance of surviving long enough for their team to find them. 

Keith started running toward him. 

“What are you doing, you idiot?” He had yelled, even though he knew Keit probably wouldn’t hear it. “Get inside!”

He could hear it growling behind him. 

Keith wasn’t turning around so Lance grabbed his arm and pulled him. 

“What is it?” Keith asked, already gasping for breath. So maybe he wasn’t perfect, Lance though. It wasn’t even that long of a run. 

“I don’t know. But it wants to eat me.”

Keith looked over his shoulder. “Lance, there’s nothing there!”

The thing let out a growl and Keith cursed. If they weren’t about to be eaten Lance would have laughed. They raced up to blue and closed her jaw quickly behind them, trapping the thing outside. It slammed up against the lion. 

Lance and Keith collapsed to the floor. 

“What. The. Hell. Were. You. Thinking?”

“I was trying to find food,” Lance breathed. 

“Are you crazy?” Keith asked, “We have enough food here.”

“Yeah but you acted like you weren’t happy about it. So I was going to get you some real food.”

“Oh, don’t blame me for this! I didn’t tell you-”

“I was just trying to do something nice for you. I see now that it was a bad idea. I won’t do it again.”

“Come on, you have to have known that going out there was dangerous and a bad idea.”

“Well, yeah.”

Keith shook his head. 

Lance didn’t really know what that meant. He’d seen Keith do so many dangerous things and go into uncharted waters for small things and other people, but he wasn’t allowed to try to do something nice for him? 

“Whatever, Keith.” Lance picked his sketchbook up from under his pilot chair where he had hid it before he’d left. “I’m going back to sleep.’

Keith didn’t obliged him with a response other than leaning back against his wall. Lance settled into his chair and closed his eyes, but he couldn't sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not my best work. I'm not proud of it :( but I'm going to edit everything once the story is finished. But Yay! After 20000 words it's finally on track


	9. Please Read

I'd just like to say I'm not sure if I will be continuing this. I've been thinking about this show for a while and I know that Keith and Lance had a generally problematic relationship in the show and I hoped to portray some of that and ease out of it as they got closer because this fic does take place in the Voltron universe.

Considering that, I'm not sure if I could make a healthy relationship out of these characters, which is what I wanted to do. Portraying good relationships is incredibly important to me and I dont know if I can do that with these two based on how I've written them in the previous chapters. 

There are, of course, people in the Fandom that aren't like the rest who ship Klance with overwhelming passion, but it is impossible to ignore the problems.

I hope that someday this might be continued, maybe when I am able to edit the story in its entirety and write it how I wanted it to be written. 

The way I wrote Adashi also makes me slightly uncomfortable because they definitely were in need of some more communication that wasn't put in here. 

If I did contribute to the toxic nature of the Voltron Fandom I'm sorry and that was never my intention. I swear I just wanted to make the show better and fix some loose ends.


End file.
